More 'nones' than Catholics: Non-religious Americans near 30% in latest survey

Americans are continually identifying as "none" when it comes to religion, meaning they are atheists, agnostics or "nothing in particular," a new study from the Pew Research Center has found.

About 28% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, according to the National Public Opinion Reference Survey conducted annually by the Pew Research Center. It's the second-largest religious group in the survey, after 40% of Protestants and 20% of Catholics.

"Nones" are less likely to volunteer or vote in elections. Of the U.S. adults surveyed, 17% of religious "nones" volunteered in the last year compared to 27% of religiously-affiliated adults, and 39% of "nones" voted in the 2022 election compared to 51% of religiously-affiliated adults.

They also showed slightly lower rates of civic engagement, and were less likely to have contacted officials or attended a government meeting in the last year.

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Do 'nones' believe in God?

According to the data collected, 17% of "nones" identify as atheist, 20% identify as agnostic and 63% say they are "nothing in particular."

Most people in the "nones" group believe in God or another higher power, but few go to religious services regularly. They are also not uniformly antireligious, and the Pew Research Center said while they found most in the group say religion does some harm, many others think it also does some good.

Some "nones," said they were spiritual, although the same is true of people who said they were religiously affiliated.

What are the demographics of 'nones'?

According to the survey, 69% of people identifying as "nones" are under 50, and are fairly split between men and women: 51% and 47%, respectively.

The survey found that men are more likely to identify as atheist or agnostic over women.

Concerning race, white adults had higher rates of identifying as atheist or agnostic instead of nothing in particular over respondents who identified themselves as Black, Hispanic or Asian: 2% of Black people identified as atheist, and 4% as agnostic.

"Nones" and religiously affiliated people reported similar education rates, although atheists and agnostics reported to have more education than people who said their religion was "nothing in particular."